Monasticism

1
Monasticism

• Kevin J. Benoy

2
Monasticism

• The word comes from the Greek word monos, meaning
  alone.
• The earliest monks were men who left their homes
  to be alone in remote places.

3
Origins

• In the late Roman period. Many religious-minded
  people abandoned civilization to go into the
  wilderness or deserts to be closer to God.
• This deliberate abandonment of worldly
  temptations is known as asceticism.

4
Origins

• As individuals and as small groups, these monks
  often sought out remote locations.
• They did this to be away from the temptations of
  the world and away from marauding German tribes.

5
Origins

• Individuals were called hermits they lived in a
  place called a hermitage..
• However, not all monks wanted to live alone.

6
Origins

• Many chose to live with others in religious
  communities called monasteries..

7
Origins

• These early monks turned away from normal life
• They prayed often.
• They became chaste.
• They fasted.
• They gave up their worldly goods.

8
Origins

• Saint Anthony the Great was the first to organize
  a monastery.
• Soon there were many monasteries in Egypt.

9
Origins

• However, it was St. Benedict of Nursia who
  brought monastic life to the West.
• He established his monastery in Italy, at Monte
  Cassino.

10
Origins

• Benedicts sister, Scholastica, founded convents
  for women which gave women the opportunity of a
  monastic life.
• Women who lived in convents were called nuns.

11
Spreading the Faith

• Monks helped make the medieval world more orderly
• Risking their lives, they set out to convert the
  barbarians to Christianity.

12
Spreading the Faith

• Famous monks who took Christianity to the pagans
  included Cyril and Methodius in the East and
  Saint Patrick in the West.

13
Rule of St. Benedict

• Saint Benedict contributed a book of rules that
  was accepted as the way western monks should live
  to the present day.
• It provided a life of pax, ora et labora
  (peace, prayer and work).

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Rule of St. Benedict

• The rule saw monastic life as a family.
• The abott was seen as the father.
• The monks were brothers.
• Each day was divided into units of
• Group prayer
• Private prayer
• Sleep
• Ritual reading
• Manual labour

15
The Horarium

• Services took place throughout the day and at
  night.
• Between these services there were times to sleep,
  eat and work.

16
The Church Cloister

• At the heart of every monastery lay both a church
  for communal prayer, and a cloister for
  individual meditation and prayer.

17
A Monks Life

• Monks vowed to observe
• Poverty they would own nothing.
• Obedience they would follow the directions of
  their abbott.
• Out of obedience also came a commitment to
  Chastity avoiding sex.

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A Life of Prayer

• Monks spent a good part of their life in prayer
  both public and private.
• Public prayer involved going to church 8 times a
  day in addition to their work routine.
• Private prayer happened during work or in the few
  quiet moments a monk might enjoy.

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A Life of Quiet Meditation

• At meals, monks ate silently, while listening to
  readings from the Rule of St. Benedict.

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A Life of Work

• Monks worked at a wide range of activities
• They farmed the land.

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A Life of Work

• They cared for the sick.

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A Life of Work

• They cultivated herbs for medicinal use.

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A Life of Work

• They cared for the needy.

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A Life of Work

• They preserved knowledge by copying books.
• Some say they saved civilization itself in
  Western Europe by preserving what little learning
  remained from the classical world.

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A Life of Work

• They taught.
• Young clergymen were taught at their schools.
• The first universities were run by monks.

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A Life of Work

• Some even fought.
• The Knights Templar were an order of fighting
  monks, dedicated to conquering and holding the
  Holy Land for Christianity.

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Experimentation

• Because a monastery could rely on its fellow
  monasteries for support, it was possible to
  experiment.
• New farming techniques, equipment and products
  were the result and knowledge was shared with
  others.

28
Experimentation

• Monks produced large quantities of wine, for
  sacramental and other uses.
• A Monk, Dom Perignon, is credited with inventing
  Champagne.

29
Crop Rotation

• The three-field system probably originated on a
  monastic farm
• Land would be divided into thirds. One third
  would have one crop, another third a second, and
  the last third would be fallow. Over three years
  the crops and fallow land rotated.

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The Medieval Heavy Plow

• The combination of education, farming knowledge
  and shared risk helped to spark medieval
  invention.
• Nailed horseshoes and horse-collars made it
  possible to replace slow oxen with plough horses,
  capable of much more work.

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Monastic Expansion

• Monasteries were very successful.
• As more people joined them, they established new
  abbeys that were connected to others of the same
  order.
• This allowed a sharing of resources and of skills
  and information.

32
Architecture

• Medieval monastic orders, like the Benedictines,
  Augustinians, Cluniacs and Cistercians generated
  great wealth which they used to build impressive
  buildings to the glory of their God.

33
Monastic Wealth

• Two orders came to dominate the Christian West
  the Cluniacs and the Cistercians.

34
Cluniacs

• The Cluniacs built beautiful abbeys and decorated
  them with gorgeous stained glass and magnificent
  ornaments.
• A Cluniac, Abbott Suger, invented the Gothic form
  in architecture.

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Cistercians

• The Cistercians resented the Cluniacs show of
  wealth and built grand, but unadorned abbeys.
• They dominated the wool trade.

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Other Monastic Orders

• New monastic orders assumed new roles. In
  Britain alone, there were 11 groups operating.
• Augustinians
• Benedictines
• Carmelites
• Carthusians
• Cistercians
• Cluniacs
• Dominicans
• Franciscans
• Gilbertines
• Premonstratensians
• Tironensians
• All follow the Rule of St. Benedict.

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Conclusions

• Monasticism was a vital feature of medieval life.
• Monks preserved and extended knowledge.
• They provided what little social welfare was
  available.
• They created wealth and helped make the height of
  medieval civilization possible.